The present invention relates to a device for producing granular material from free-flowing viscous masses which are transferred into the form of droplets and which then rigidify or gel, the apparatus comprising a vessel charged with the free-flowing mass and provided with discharge openings which, for the purpose of forming drops, are opened or closed intermittently by a perforated belt that is moved past the openings.
A device of this type has been known from Froeschke U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,000, where an endless, continuously moving belt is guided on two guide pulleys. In order to give the belt a sufficiently high elasticity for the continuous motion and for its application against the vessel, the belt is made from a plastic material, for example from PVC. Plastic belts are subject, however, to relatively significant wear and relatively rapid aging, and this may have the result that frequent belt changes, connected with production stoppages, have to be scheduled, or that after a longer operating time the belt will no longer apply itself against the discharge slot of the vessel so that its function may become unsatisfactory, unless the belt tension is continuously readjusted.
Now, it is the object of the present invention to provide a belt which is sturdy, exhibits almost no aging phenomena and which does not present the problems of elastically yielding belts.